SKILLS SHORTAGES IN AUSTRALIA

Employment in Australia is the lowest it has been for 22 years. Without an accessible labour- force, the opportunity for growth within the country is severely hampered.

A recent Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) survey has found that the availability of suitably qualified employees has become the number one constraint on future investment decisions for the first time in 14 years. Another survey (eg Sensis) has found that in Queensland staff shortages are preventing employers from making the most of a strong economy.

In more stark terms, dealing with the trades industries where the problems are the most severely felt, a recent industry analysis of the Australia wide skills shortage indicates that up to 170,000 tradespeople will leave the workforce and only 40,000 will enter it over the next 5 years- leading to a national shortage of 250,000 traditional trades apprentices over the next 10 years!

Obviously, the optimum situation is to encourage and incentivise young people to take up trade apprenticeships and industry training to meet this demand. But business in Australia requires immediate solutions to avoid the already double-digit % salary increases –brought about by our old friends demand and supply - climbing even higher and putting further pressure on businesses to perform in tough markets. If there are not enough skilled employees to fill jobs then the only other option in the short term at least, is to introduce offshore personnel. Options for employers and employees include temporary employer sponsored visas (including a regional version) for up to 4 years, or a number of permanent skilled visa options –sponsored or otherwise- depending upon the particular circumstances. For people interested in migrating to Australia to work, this is the time. Regional skill shortages The shortages affecting Australia generally as noted above, are more seriously felt in the regional areas of Australia, because of the flow of skilled employees to the cities to fill positions paying higher salaries and offering more benefits. It is difficult to attract people back to the bush when salaries and facilities do not compete.

For employers

The option of employing overseas skilled employees becomes a very real option for employers unable to retain the services of apprentices and tradesmen and other skilled employees whose services are in great ‘demand’ elsewhere. The employer sponsored visas Employer Nominated Scheme (ENS) and the concessionary Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) are time limited (3 and 2 contract years in turn but only RSMS requirement is protected by migration law.), so if nothing else candidates are bound by the terms of their visas to stay for the respective term of their visas. For some this will be sufficient to make them stay. Realistically this is the only way candidates will stay, since candidates who qualify under the independent points test etc are able to live and work anywhere, so the likelihood of staying in the bush, is lower. A further advantage of the ENS and RSMS visas is the capacity to attract employees who may be over the 45 year cut-off for the independent visa categories.

Employers also have the option of sponsoring skilled workers for up to 4 years at a time by using the Business Entry Long Stay 457 visa and the regional version which offers concessions to both parties. This is useful to give the employer the opportunity to evaluate the worth of the employee and he may then be in a better position to consider more permanent employment under ENS or RSMS.

For employees

There are independent and sponsored independent visa categories of permanent work visas which require certain threshold criteria to be met including points

For those candidates who miss out on the points test (now 120) particularly, and who are prepared to move to regional areas (quite often simply outside the major metropolitan areas of the eastern seaboard of Australia) there are some significant concessions, on the basis of reduced points , language and in some cases skills with the Skilled - Independent Regional (Provisional) visa - both on and off shore categories.The candidate is required to live in a regional area for 2 years and work for 12 months before an application can be made for permanent residency.

Clearly, the ability to qualify under the points test (whatever it is) is becoming more difficult. Regrettably the Australian government seems to place little value in age-gathered experience and wisdom, so candidates over 35 without a second language or funds to invest will find it difficult. There are specially geared non- points tested regional visas which offer advantages to certain applicants. In most cases ‘regional’ simply means outside Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth. The whole of South Australia and Tasmania and the Northern Territory and the non-metropolitan areas of the other states are treated as regional for most of these visas, so you won’t be living among the kangaroos! These visas can be both privately or government sponsored visas or employer nominated but supported by regional authorities (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)). These visas are permanent. For those uncertain of what they wish to commit to or who cannot yet qualify in their chosen profession, then there is the normal Business Entry Long Stay 457 visa and also the regional version which has concessions for salary, skill and language. Applicants may if they can support an application, then apply for a permanent Independent Skilled visa if young enough, or a permanent employer sponsored visa such as the Employer Nominated Scheme (ENS) or the regional version RSMS (see above).

Interested applicants can apply directly for the ENS or RSMS from offshore or from a valid visa whilst in Australia. The usual pathway for ENS visas are (1) skills assessment + 3 years post qualification experience or (2) 2 years employment on a 457 visa and 12 months employment with the nominating employer.

RSMS visa afford considerable concessions if regional areas are acceptable and if the required skills and language levels are met.

Where to from here ?

If you are interested in migrating to Australia to work, by way of preliminary investigation, you should first peruse the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) (http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1121i.pdf) to identify your occupation, or a closely related occupation and its point allocation. You should also establish the appropriate recent experience requirement.

If you cannot identify the occupation from the list then you will fail in the independent and sponsored visa categories noted on the visa page on this website. If you can, you will also need to meet the other basic requirements

In the event that you cannot select an occupation off SOL or otherwise satisfy the basic requirements, you should consider the temporary or permanent non-points tested visa categories. The employer-sponsored temporary (457) work visa is available if you can show your skills are appropriate to the tasks required, or alternatively, the employer nominated permanent visa (ENS, RSMS), if you can establish you are a highly skilled employee by a varitey of ways. Occupations for the 457 work visa must be gazetted (similarly to SOL). There is now (since April 2005) a similar gazetted list of occupations for ENS/RSMS, referred to as ENSOL. I would suggest also that you also peruse the State related web-site links on my Links page to gather information about where you may want to live.

The alternative to this is to complete my ‘General Skilled Assessment’ form on the Assessment’ page of my website and request a preliminary assessment based on the information you provide.

The details provided on this page are for your general information and are not specific to any one applicant. For all enquiries related to this information and indeed all other enquiries to do with temporary or permanent skilled visas please contact me on my contact page or send me an e-mail